, 1887-06-09
CONCERNING THE SHAKERS.
some Information Given. Also, About
Elder Il. W. Evans.
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NEW YORK, June L.
Among the men of note and Importance who
occasionally drop into this city from not
distant neighborhood Elder +. w. Evans,
the head of the Shaker fraternity, deserves
mention. He has just been spending Few
days here and, for u man Of 10 years, he is
remarkably vigorous and healthy. IL you
converse long with him you will not only SEE
that he Is born leader, but n man OF the
shrewdest business perceptions The Shaker
fraternity, he says, is now over 100 year,
old, and his connection with 1t dates back
ward sixty seven years. Tho doctrine which
was formulated by Ann Lee has not stood
still altogether. Under the influence OF Elder
Evans it bus become somewhat lberalized.
The canon Of revelation Is more elastic with
the Shakers now than 1t ever was. They
think they have received new light since tn.
days of their founders, and that, ns time gocS
on, still other new revelations may DO e1-
pected
Certain cardinal principles Of course re.
main. Their most distinct one is the duality
Of the godhead, which implies a parental
compound, SO to speak-an eternal mother as
we'll as an eternal father. Their doctrine OF
celibacy is, of course, prominent, and most
tenaciously held. Many of the tenets of the
Quakers are also theirs. Their opposition to
marriage is rather REIMBURSEMENT, for the
sake Of entering n higher cycle OF spiritual
experience than the world ut large can hope
to attain But, in its order, they do not con-
slider marriage wrong Much of the imagery
which the Shakers employ in reference to
'cycles" and first, second, third and fourth
heavens" is quite in affinity with the
Swedenborgians. In fact, Ann Lee used to
say that "Swedenborg is really John the
baptist"
On two or three occasions recently, while
Elder Evans has been tarrying in the city, !
have had extended talks with him. Some OF
the incidents of his life, as he tells them, are
exceedingly interesting. He was born In
England and came to this country with Robert
Owen. Both he and Owen were then firm ma.
terialists and skeptical in reference to any
revelation whatever. But they were human
itarians and were interested in communism.
In spite of Owens good intentions, for n,
was a man Of benevolent and humane in
stincts, the scheme at New Harmony fell
through. 1t could not be made to work.
Evans discovered that the Zoarites
and the Rappites had no better success. As
the Shakers were the one body that e'd sue
ceed, he went to their head center in New
Lebanon to find out their secret. While there
he was the subject OF spiritual revelations.
yicted him of the errors of materialism; and
under these illuminations lie became con
vinced also OF the benefits Of a celibate life
and saw that the Shakers had truths which
were far in advance Of our worldly creeds. As
a neces ,ary result he joined them As spirit
ualists, the Shakers claim to be pioneers but
they do not seek spirits or spiritual intercourse
except as these things are forced upon them,
A too frequent or O solicitous resort to spirits
they consider wrong. Elder Evans makes
no reference to the fact that by weight Of
character and thorough saturation with their
principles, he has risen to be their head, but
such Is the fact. or course this does not
mean that he is a hierarch, because the Sha-
kers believe In equality, but it means that
natural selection has brought him rightfully
TO the front.
He says the body in fifty years has under,
ID r..ormatory changes Formerly 1t used
as society outside more generally did once
alcoholic liquors. Now they do not touch
hem. They do not use tobacco either, nor
cat pork. He thinks they are on the way TO
become vegetarians eventually. They were
,lways Abolitionists, and among the earliest
Of this once derided class Now they are FRO
hibitionists and woman suffragists, and believe
in land reform in the direction in which
Henry George is leading. Large land owners
themselves, they do not intend to have their
own possessions prevent their adherence 70,
and acauiescence in, what they consider
rand reformatory truth.
They do not, however, vote: nor are they
called to jury duty. The authorities haDitu-
ally exempt them from jury service ihey
nav their taxes faithfully and do not refuse TO
serve ma witnesses when called upon. 1t would
be readily acknowledged by their neighoors
tha, in the conduct and virtues OF life they
rank high Like the Quakers they are op'
,,osed to war and are non-resistants.
Once. the elder says, they seemed In danger
of becoming simply great eleeinoSyi'ary III
stitution. He always strongly objected 70
this tendency: and for years they have been
wedding out, or screening out, those who come
TO them simply for the loaves and fishes
They consider this the main reason theil
numbers have fallen off in fifteen years; bu'
they also think that their doctrines have nj
tered out into the world and are really being
substantially acted upon by many This auhe
sion they even prefer to proselytes taken int
their direct fold. There were once eightee'
societies i'm the United States, and there ar
now seventeen. OF these four are in Ne"
York, four in Massachusetts,, two In Connect
icut. two in Kentucky, two in Ohio, two II
New Hampshire, and one in Maine.
Elder Evans says that the community priii
ciple cannot exist with mariiage--ior I'M
produces too strong a centrifugal element
He constantly receives letters ana hppi.ca
t;ons from those who want to join the fra
ternity. but no one is received without
thorough examination, and no one is urge
to Join. II person wishes to join and seem
sincere, he is brought before the court OF III
own conscience and rigidly questioned
II he has ever wronged any OH
he must confess the error and a.
restitution. II he owes any deb,
he must first pay them. The head OF com
mission once sent down from Albany by IN
legislature to inquire into the method D.;
which the Shakers received the worlds chil
Jren for adoption said, Mt the end OF the tax
on testing them morally, that he wished IN
whole of Albany, including the complainant
who sent him TO New Lebanon, were Shakers
The method of adopting children, however
has been modified of their own motion. Ihe:
do not now seek any who are not old enoug
to have some mind Of their own. ThoS